


Animal Magnetism

by Alexx (Vampirerex1)



Category: Alien vs Predator (2004)
Genre: Alien Biology, Biting, F/M, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Marking, Masturbation, Masturbation Interrupts, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mating Rituals, Omorashi, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Pee, Rough Sex, Scar Lives, Scenting, Sebastian Lives, Sex Pollen, Shifters Choose Their Mates by Scent, Strange Courtship Rituals, Yautja/Human Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-01-16 14:01:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18523012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampirerex1/pseuds/Alexx
Summary: Meet Thera Regina, a Shifter who has been friends with Alexa Woods for three years now. When Alexa is sent to Antarctica to lead an expedition to a strange pyramid under the ice, she brings the Shifter with her. None of them expected to find what they did down there, and Theracertainlydidn't expect to find her mate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ****  
> _Disclaimer: I DO NOT own AvP: Alien vs Predator, I’m just using the characters (and bits of the script). Thera Regina is mine!_  
>   
> 
> Okay guys, this is my FIRST EVER Alien vs Predator fic. I'm hoping that if I go wrong with any of the personalities of the characters (especially the Yautja), someone will tell me and I can sort it out. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the story. I'm going to try and get one chapter out every week.

If there was one thing that Thera Regina hated with a passion, it was being in the air. It wasn't the noise or anything, she could deal with that, it was more the fact that her feet weren't on the ground, where if she fell, she would have less chance of killing herself. What was worse; not only was her travelling companion Alexa Woods asleep, but she had to share the space with an overenthusiastic human male who was constantly taking photos with a camera that had a bloody flash! The next two flashes from the camera not only woke Alexa up, but also riled Thera up.

“If you don’t turn that flash off, I’m gonna ram the fuckin' thing up your arse,” she said, her eyes glinting dangerously.

Alexa reached over and tapped Thera on the knee, before she looked over at the man, who apologised and said that he should’ve turned the flash off, before he handed the magazine to the dark-skinned female. Thera flinched when there was another flash and was about to reprimand the man again, but came up short when she saw that it was Alexa who had the camera in her hand. Instead, she sighed and leaned her head back against the headrest, closing her eyes and trying to imagine that she was anywhere but in a helicopter. Vaguely, she heard the man introduce himself as Dr. Graeme Miller, a chemical engineer, and Alexa’s reply had her giving a bit of a snort.

“Alexa Woods, environmental technician and guide, and this grumpy grump here is Thera Regina,” she said.

Thera simply looked at Graeme and snorted, before crossing her arms over her chest and closing her eyes again, causing the Scot to ask what it was that he’d done wrong.

“Don’t mind her, she’s like that to everyone she meets,” Alexa said.

Thera give a little growl, proving Alexa’s point. Graeme chuckled a little and the two of them started to have a bit of a conversation, until the pilot said something about turbulence, which caused Thera to growl again.

“ _Seriously_ , isn’t it enough that I’m in this bloody death machine, now the elements have to conspire against me too,” she muttered.

As she did, she put her seatbelt on, ignoring the way Alexa and Graeme chuckled at her antics. When the pilot then said about passing the PSR, Graeme said something about wishing he’d got a picture which made Thera snort in amusement. Alexa glared at her a little, before informing the Scotsman that PSR meant Point of Safe Return, meaning that they had used up half of their fuel. Graeme then said something about crashing, which caused Thera to growl deeply and glare at him.

“We _could_ ditch, but the temperature of the water would kill us in three minutes,” Alexa said.

With that, Graeme shut up, and Thera was able to get at least a little rest before they were to land.

-

Before long, landing is exactly what they did and when Thera stepped off of the helicopter, she gave a bit of a groan.

“Lex!” She called.

The dark-skinned woman came up to her and she glared half-heartedly.

“So not only do you get me on a rotating death machine, but now you’ve gone and put me on a floating one, surrounded by wide open spans of water,” she grumbled.

Alexa laughed a little and tapped Thera on the shoulder, telling her that everything would be alright, that nothing would happen that would put her life in any danger. A grunt came from the short-haired woman, and they both made their way below deck where they would be caught in a meeting with the guy who had called them here.

-

The meeting itself was quite short, thanks to Lex telling Weyland that he would need to find another guide for going to the pyramid that was below the ice. As the dark-skinned guide stormed out of the room, Thera sat in her chair for a few short minutes, before she got up and followed her friend. At first, she didn’t know where she was going, until she caught Lex’s scent and she followed that all the way to the cabin they were both sharing.

“So, you’re not interested in going to see this pyramid?” She asked.

Lex shook her head and then began to explain to the other woman, that it was far too dangerous for untrained men and women to go onto the ice. Thera snorted and shook her head. She was about to say something else, when the sound of someone clearing their throat erupted behind her. Turning around, Thera saw that it was Maxwell Stafford, and reluctantly the woman let him into the room.

“I’ve spoken with Mr. Weyland. The money’s been wired to your accounts. Chopper’s refuelling to fly you both home,” he said.

Thera snorted and shook her head.

“What makes you think that _I’m_ going with Lex?” She asked.

Maxwell looked at her and raised one of his eyebrows, before looking back at Lex and nodding, before going to leave the room.

“Who’d you get?” Lex asked.

Maxwell stopped in his retreat and looked back at Lex, furrowing his brow a little.

“Gerald Murdoch.”

He then left, causing Lex to sigh and toss her smellies into her suitcase. Thera sighed too; having heard of Murdoch, she knew how he was. The bastard only cared about himself, and if you got caught, or fell down then you were on your own and he wouldn’t care less. Lex put on a jacket and left the cabin, following Maxwell to wherever he’d gone causing Thera to snort and out of the cabin in the opposite direction.

-

Whilst Lex was doing whatever she was doing, Thera found herself on the deck of the ship. Once she got used to the constant rocking and the salty air, she found that it wasn’t actually too bad to be on a ship and the dancing colors of the _Aurora Australis_ as it flickered across the sky made it even easier to get used to. It wasn’t long until Lex joined her and rested her exasperated head on the other woman’s shoulder.

“So?” Thera asked.

Lex sighed and huddled in on herself a little, feeling the chill of the Antarctic air.

“I think he’s making a mistake. But he’s determined to go down to that pyramid,” she said.

Thera chuckled and shook her head. When Mr. Weyland had come into the room, she could immediately tell by his scent that he was sick, _very_ sick and she knew that was what was driving him to find this pyramid before anyone else. She was about to tell Lex what she thought, when said woman asked a very random and surprising question.

“What’s mating like for your kind Thera?” She asked.

Thera had to do a double take, before she lifted her arm and sighed when Lex’s head landed on her right breast. She thought about what she could tell her human friend that wouldn’t make it sound anymore alien than what it was but, in the end, she figured that no matter _how_ she said it, the process of mating for her kind was alien to humans anyway. She took a breath and let it out slowly, before beginning to rub the arm of Lex.

“You’ve heard of love at first sight, yeah?” She asked.

She felt Lex nod against her boob, and she once again took that breath.

“Well for us, it’s more like love at first _scent_. Being part animal, we rely more on our basic instincts when it comes to mating, and once we’ve found the one who has the best scent and look like he could father strong offspring, then the whole courtship ritual begins,” she explained.

It was clear that Lex was interested in what she was saying, because the guide hadn’t said a word throughout the entire explanation, and judging that Thera had stopped talking, she rattled off another question.

“So, what’s a suitable mate smell like?”

Thera simply shrugged against her.

“I haven’t smelt it personally, but from what I’ve heard, a suitable mate smells like...I think the best approximation is baking cookies. A mouthwatering scent that’s kind of addictive,” she replied.

Just as Lex was about to say something else, Thera stiffened, removed her arm from around Lex’s shoulders and stepped away, causing the guide to give her a confused look before she heard the sound of footsteps. The duo was then joined by Graeme and Sebastian, the former of which said some scientific jargon about the Southern Lights, which happened to go right over Thera’s head.

“I have no idea what you just said, and to be honest I don’t really care. The Southern and the Northern lights are still beautiful,” she stated.

Surprisingly enough, Graeme nodded and chuckled self-consciously. This woman was tough, that much was for sure and he found that he might have just a _teeny-tiny_ bit of a crush on her, even if he was married with two children.

“Aye, that they are,” he said.

Thera ignored him and instead looked over to where Lex was stood with Sebastian. The scents coming off the two were almost enough to make her need to go back inside and she had to bite her tongue to refrain from saying anything that would make Lex embarrassed. She was about to turn and leave, when she heard what Sebastian said.

“Ok, let me ask you something. Do we stand a better chance of surviving with _you_ , or with the number-two choice?” He asked.

At this, Thera had to jump in, unwittingly backing Sebastian up in his question.

“Pretty boy’s right Lex. You know the ice better than anyone on this damned death machine, we’d have a much better chance at surviving with _you_ , than with the dick that’s Weyland’s second choice.”

A change in Lex’s scent told Thera that the double teaming had giving her pause for thought, and a small smile appeared on her face as she left the guide to think about what both she and Sebastian had said.

-

During the time Thera had been below deck, she’d had time to think about how the scents from both Lex and Sebastian up on deck, had been evidence of how they were attracted to one another. To humans, it probably wouldn’t be noticeable except from random glances, or the odd smile here and there, but to her, a Shifter...well it was pretty much like Lex was holding a sign over her head that said _‘I really, really, really, really, really, really like you!’_ and Sebastian was holding a similar sign over his head.

When Lex came back to the cabin to put her stuff back, Thera smiled at her and put down the book she’d been reading.

“You should go for it,” she said.

Lex looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Go for what?” She asked.

Thera laughed and shook her head, putting the book on the bed and moving so that she was sitting on the edge of it.

“Don’t give me _that_! It’s clear to anyone with my senses that you and the pretty boy like each other,” she replied.

She’d taken to calling Sebastian _Pretty Boy_ when she’d first met him, not because she thought that he was handsome or anything, but because Lex had immediately thought so. Lex blushed and shook her head.

“He’s probably married and has children Thera. Besides, I don’t need anyone,” she said.

Thera shook her head and snorted a little, before she stood from the bed and stretched feeling the gas bubbles in her shoulders pop.

“So, I guess I should go to the meeting place and wait for you to come and give your safety speech?” She asked.

Lex, knowing what Thera was like, and how she always seemed to know what she was going to do, simply nodded and watched as the Shifter walked out of the cabin.

-

“Gather ‘round everyone!” Lex called.

Everyone started to form a crowd around Lex, intent on listening to what she had to say. They all had yellow puffer jackets on, as protection from the cold, even Thera had one on. She was sat in one of the chairs that she was sat in when Mr. Weyland told them about the pyramid, and she rolled her eyes when she heard Graeme say that it was because of his animal magnetism that Lex had stayed.

‘ _Not likely asshole,’_ Thera thought to herself.

Lex gave her speech about staying safe, and not to try and be a hero when unexpected things happened. She pointedly looked at Thera and Verheiden when she said that. Thera held her hands up.

“Don’t expect any heroics from me Lex, I’m no hero,” she said.

The dark-skinned guide raised an eyebrow and then simply nodded, before everyone began to make their way off the ship and onto the ice.

-

As soon as Lex, Sebastian and Thera got into one of the Snow CATs, Thera had to take little breaths, causing Sebastian to look at her strangely. This in turn caused Lex to look at her too, only with a worried expression on her face.

“What’s the matter Thera?” She asked.

The Shifter looked at her and shook her head.

“Nothing, except the pheromones in this cab are going to be the death of me,” she replied.

Lex chuckled and blushed. Sebastian frowned and looked at Thera, before he looked over at Lex and raised an eyebrow. Thera noticed the look Lex was giving her and sighed.

“Go ahead, tell him,” she muttered.

The ice guide began to explain about Thera, and how she wasn’t exactly human. The Italian archaeologist seemed to be a little shocked at what he was hearing. He’d _heard_ of Shifters, almost every scientist had, but he’d never actually _seen_ one.

“No questions Pretty Boy, we don’t have time, and I don’t feel like humouring you,” Thera said as Sebastian opened his mouth.

The Italian nodded and simply looked out of the window looking at the moon.

“When I was a kid growing up in Italy, you know what they call a moon that big?” He asked.

He then turned to look at Lex and said what it was called in Italian.

“La luna del cacciatore,” he said.

Lex looked at him and smiled, before trying to pronounce it also. Sebastian gave her a _‘Brava’_ when she got it right and then Lex asked what it meant, but it wasn’t the Italian who answered.

“It means it’s a hunter’s moon,” Thera stated.

She had her woolly hat over her eyes and her arms crossed over her chest, she looked for all the world like she was asleep so it was a surprise when she answered instead of Sebastian.

“You know Italian?” Lex asked.

Thera shrugged.

“Not much, learned just enough to know what I was cooking the other night. Chicken Cacciatore, AKA Hunter’s Chicken,” she replied.

Lex nodded and looked back to the front of the snow CAT, driving it through the snow. Soon enough, they came to a cliff edge, and whilst Lex fired a flare gun to provide some light, Thera stood right on the edge and looked down at the little village. The scent of fish from it was still strong, even if it looked like it had been abandoned.

“Damn this place stinks,” she muttered to herself.

The team descended the cliff and began to look around the old Whaling Station. Thera didn’t get too close, as the smell was already beginning to turn her stomach. Soon enough though, Sebastian called over and from what Thera could see, he’d found some sort of hole in the ice and a building. Lex, Miller, the other guys, Weyland and Thera all rushed over to see what it was. Whilst one of the digging team explained that the hole had been drilled at a perfect 30-degree angle and that it went right to the pyramid. The drill operator said that there was no team and that it would take more than twenty-four hours to drill that deep, Weyland then spoke.

“Well, the only way we’re gonna know for sure is to get down there and find out,” he said.

Thera was now excited for what they were going to do. Going down into this hole was going to be fun, just like all of her adventures with Lex were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so...I haven’t written anything in a _really long_ time, so I’m hoping that this is up to par.
> 
> Song Lyrics Used: _I Really Like You - Carly Rae Jepsen_
> 
>  _ **Next Chapter Due:**_ Friday 26th April


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for so many kudos, and thanks for the bookmarks too!

As the scan on Weyland’s laptop showed, the tunnel ended at the pyramid which was seen when the generator powered up the lights. Thera grinned when Lex said something about Weyland leaving his mark on the world, before she lightly nudged the frail man and nodded at him. Weyland nodded back and then the whole team began to make their way towards the pyramid, stopping at the front to look around at the hieroglyphs that were just inside of the entrance. Sebastian’s assistant roughly translated them, only to be corrected by Sebastian himself, making both Thera and Lex smirk.

“Only the chosen may enter,” he said.

He looked at his assistant, and then the whole group went farther into the pyramid. Before long, they came to a room that appeared to have a load of bodies and body parts in it, Thera shuddered and looked around, hearing Weyland ask what it all was.

“This is the sacrificial chamber,” Sebastian said.

Thera continued to look around, taking mental notes of what she could see. Eight slabs in a circle, each of the slabs had a mummified body on it, and each mummified body had a hole in the chest area.

“What the fuck?” She asked.

Sebastian leaned down to get a closer look at one of the bodies, as if it were a rare archaeological find. Well, for Sebastian, it probably _was_.

“Those that were chosen would lie here,” he said. “They weren’t bound or tied in any way; they went willingly to die. Men and women. It was considered an honour.”

Thera snorted from beside him.

“Fuck _that_ for a game of soldiers. Honour or no honour I’m not giving my life for _anyone_ ,” she said.

Lex chuckled and shook her head. That was Thera, always straight to the point and not holding things back. Though, she guessed that it wasn’t really in her nature to hold things back, or to sugar-coat the truth. It was one of the many things that she liked about her friend. Then, Sebastian’s assistant translated a piece of script that was on one of the slabs.

“They gave their lives so the hunt could begin,” he said.

The Shifter turned towards him at the sound of the word ‘hunt’.

“Hunt? You mean someone or some _thing_ was hunting these people?” She asked.

The assistant shrugged at her, obviously he really didn’t know. Thera sighed and shook her head, before walking off towards one of the other bodies. She took note of how the hole in the chest seemed to come outwards. She may have been with Lex for the last three years, but she had done some hunting near the little cabin Lex liked to go to every-so-often. Because of that, she knew that if someone or something had ripped this human’s heart out, or diaphragm, the ribs would be pushed _inwards_ , but these weren’t. The ribs of this human seemed to be angling _outwards_ , as if something had forced its way _out_ of the body. Shuddering, Thera moved away from the body and watched as Max knelt down next to the drain-like thing that was in the middle of the bodies. He pulled out a glow-stick and snapped it, before dropping it down one of the holes.

“What have you found Max?” Weyland asked.

Max didn’t look at him, instead he chose to watch the glow stick fall until it hit the bottom.

“It’s a shaft to another level,” he replied.

Thera ignored the rest of the conversation, and instead moved so that she could lean against one of the slabs. She went to sigh, but as soon as she inhaled her body went rigid. Letting the breath out slowly, she began to sniff the air. She was so engrossed in what she was smelling, that she didn’t hear Lex come up next to her.

“Thera, we’re moving on. You’re coming with us,” she said.

The Shifter nodded and began to follow her friend, still sniffing lightly at the air. For some reason, she could smell something that was positively mouth-watering. She’d never smelt anything like it, and it was almost like, with one sniff she was addicted.

-

Pretty soon, the smaller group reached the floor where the glow stick was, Thera looked around the new room, taking note of the statues that were on either side of the stairs. She watched as Lex looked at her compass and then looked at the ceiling.

“This should be directly below the sacrificial chamber,” she said.

Thera resisted the urge to say something sarcastic, and instead she bit her tongue and gave a bit of a smirk. Seeing this, Lex just rolled her eyes and flipped her off discreetly, before making her way up the stairs.

“Sebastian,” she said.

The Italian archaeologist moved over to her, followed by Miller, Thera, Weyland and the others of the group. Thera looked at what Lex was motioning to and raised an eyebrow.

“That had better not be another fucking mummy,” she said.

Miller looked over at her and chuckled.

“You’re not scared, are you?” He asked.

Thera looked at him and released a very inhuman growl, causing him to back off. When she heard Sebastian say that it was a sarcophagus, she heaved a breath and rolled her eyes. From what she knew of sarcophagi, it almost always meant _mummies_.

“You’re not gonna open it are you?” She asked.

Sebastian looked over at her and grinned and Thera mentally face-palmed.

“Have you never seen _The_ _Mummy_ , or its sequels?”

Lex chuckled and shook her head, before looking at her friend.

“ _The_ _Mummy_ isn’t real Thera,” she said.

Thera looked at Lex and raised an eyebrow.

“I know that!” She hissed. “But just because the curse in _The_ _Mummy_ isn’t real, doesn’t mean that there isn’t some education in the movie. You just _don’t_ _touch_ things that are in pyramids,” she huffed.

Ignoring her, Weyland asked if it was going to work and Thera threw her hands up into the air.

“Don’t fucking listen to me then. But don’t come crying to me when you wake an ancient evil that wants to take your asses back to hell with it.”

Sebastian aligned the dials on the sarcophagus and suddenly it began to open. Fearing that Thera was right, Lex told everyone to move back. Once it was open, Sebastian moved over to it and shone his torch into the dust or smoke that was inside.

“Oh my god. Take a look at this,” he said.

The group moved towards the now open sarcophagus and took a look. Inside wasn’t a mummy as Thera had feared, instead there were three weapons.

“Weapons? Who the fuck keeps weapons in a sarcophagus?” Thera asked.

The others ignored her question and instead started to ask one another what they thought they were, before Weyland started to cough uncontrollably. When Lex went over to Weyland, Thera heard him say that it was because of too much excitement, which caused the guide to say that it was time to go for the night. Max tried to argue with her, but Weyland seemed to know not to argue with the guide, and backed her up. When Max asked what Weyland wanted to do with the weapons, the latter said to take them. Two people took two of the weapons, and when Max went to take the final one, Sebastian started to yell.

“No. _No_! Don’t touch them!” He called.

Thera looked at Sebastian and couldn’t help the little smirk that appeared on her face. So, he had seen _The_ _Mummy_ , and knew that by touching something that obviously belonged to whoever made the pyramid, was just asking for trouble. Max however, didn’t listen and, as he took the final weapon out, the sarcophagus started to close, causing him to jump back. Then, the doors started to close, and as Thera ran over to one of them with Lex, a whoosh of air came under it and once again she stopped still. There was that scent again. She began to sniff around the door, pressing her hands against it as it closed. An inhuman growl escaped her and she banged her fists on the door. As much as she wasn’t exactly the huggable type in front of people, Lex had never seen her act so wound up, and she stepped back a little.

“Are you alright Thera?” She asked.

The Shifter simply growled and hissed. As soon as Lex heard it, she told everyone to back off. In the three years she’d known the Shifter, Thera had never growled at her, or shown _any_ kind of aggression. Upon seeing the way Lex was looking at her, Thera huffed and then cleared her throat, before moving away from the door, closing her eyes and taking deep and slow breaths.

“I apologise Lex, I don’t know what came over me,” she replied.

Lex told her not to worry about it, and instead started to talk to Weyland. When Lex said about going back to the surface, Thera’s head snapped up at the sound of guns cocking. Another growl started in her throat, but when she saw that Max and the other guy weren’t planning on using the guns against Lex, she stopped. Lex then moved to the set of stairs that had suddenly appeared, before saying that it should lead them back to the entrance. The whole group went down the stairs, Thera next to Lex the whole way.

As they got into an alley, Thera stopped and started to sniff again. That _scent_ , where was it _coming_ from? It was stronger in the hall, and her eyes instantly changed as her baser instincts began to kick in. A growl emanated from her, startling Lex, as she moved with speed towards the wider part of the hall. As she got there, she crouched down a little and started to sniff the air, growling a little as she exhaled.

“What’s she doing?” Max asked.

Lex looked at the dark-skinned male and shrugged.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen her act like this,” she answered.

Sebastian came to the front and looked at Thera, he watched as she continued to sniff the air, moving around to try and pinpoint its source and he understood.

“She can smell something,” he said.

Lex looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, but the question is... _what_ ,” she said.

Sebastian shrugged, and then the rest of the group came into the hall looking around the whole time. Suddenly, one of the men disappeared and his gun fell to the ground causing everyone else to jump. Max and the others with guns started to look around, asking where the man who had disappeared, had gone. Then, there was a strange spear that came flying through the air and Thera tilted her head as she looked up and saw something strange, before the pyramid started to shift again. Everything after that moved quite fast, and when Thera came back to herself, she was on the other side of a wall with Max, Weyland, Sebastian and Lex.

“What the fuck just happened?” She asked.

Lex looked over at her and frowned.

“You don’t remember?”

Thera shook her head and frowned herself.

“I remember going into the alley, and smelling something _really_ good. Then everything is a blur,” she replied.

Lex frowned at first, but then her eyes went wide and she put her hand on Thera’s shoulder and looked her in the eyes.

“What did it smell like?” She asked.

Thera turned her head towards her and raised an eyebrow.

“It kinda smelt like... _oh..._ ”

She trailed off at the end, realisation suddenly coming to her. She’d told Lex earlier, whilst on the ship, that mates smelt like the Shifter version of baking cookies. She looked at Lex and gave a bit of a sheepish grin.

“It smelt like cookies,” she said.

Lex was shocked at first. From what Thera had told her, the scent of a mate smelt like cookies. So in the middle of the group running for their lives, Thera had scented a mate. Lovely. She shook her head and then looked around at the others who were in the room with them. Obviously, the Shifter couldn’t smell the scent now because she wasn’t acting feral, but it still begged the question of where the scent was coming from.

Weyland then moved over to them with Max, and they both looked at Thera.

“What _are_ you?” Weyland asked.

Lex looked at him and then back at Thera, before she raised an eyebrow in question. The Shifter sighed and then took her jacket off as well as her shoes. At first, Max, Weyland and Sebastian were confused as to why she was essentially stripping in front of them, but the sound of breaking bones and the sight of Thera’s body reshaping itself from the human form, to the form of a black panther answered their unspoken question, and the spoken one.

Weyland and Max shared a look, whilst Sebastian muttered something in Italian. Lex then went and stood next to the panther, looking at the three men she’d been trapped with.

“Thera’s a Shifter. I found her wounded in the woods near to my house three years ago, she was only young. I took her home and patched her up and we’ve been friends ever since,” she explained.

Max just stared at the Panther, before giving a simple nod and walking away. Weyland however, took a step closer, stopping only when Thera growled.

“Interesting,” he stated.

Sebastian smiled and thanked whoever above, that he’d been able to witness a Shifter actually shifting in his lifetime, before Max said that it looked like they were trapped in the room. Sebastian piped up then.

“By my count, it revolves around multiples of ten. The pyramid reconfigures itself every ten minutes,” he said.

Just as he finished saying that, one of the walls started moving. Sebastian kissed the bottle top he’d found on a dig, and the group started to make their way through the doorway, with Max leading the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos are Greatly Appreciated, Bookmarks are Love & Comments are Life. 
> 
> _**Next Chapter Due:** _Friday 3rd May


	3. Chapter 3

If Thera thought that the room that they had been in was big, the room that the passageway led to was even bigger. When the group of five got in there, Weyland dropped the weapon he’d taken from the sarcophagus and started to cough again. Thera looked around the larger room, sniffing around too, to see if she could sense anything but, what she scented wasn’t anything bad, it was the same scent of cookies that she’d scented before. A low growl escaped her, and she padded towards the middle of the room, just looking back as Max was hit by some kind of net. Tilting her head, she cantered over to where the dark-skinned man was trapped and sniffed at the net, jumping back a little in surprise when it began to coil itself tightly around the human. 

As the other humans tried to free Max, said trapped man told the others to look out and when they all turned around, they saw a large humanoid creature lumbering towards them. Lex went to hit it with a pickaxe, but it knocked her out of the way. This caused Thera to roar angrily, which made the creature look at her. She growled and lowered herself onto her haunches, getting ready to pounce should the creature decide to come after her. Sebastian, however, took the decision from the creature when he punched it in the gut. The creature then lifted him up by the throat, and Thera took the distraction and ran over to the two.

Once there, she sank her teeth into the creatures’ leg causing it to give a pained yowl. At first, the creature tried to shake her off, but when that didn’t work it resorted to beating her with its fist. Eventually, Thera had to let go but, she knew that she’d done at least some damage to the muscles in the creature’s leg. Lex, seeing that the creature had both Sebastian and Thera near to it, moved to grab the pickaxe, only to be kicked across the room. Once again, Thera roared angrily and this time she ran towards the invisible force that had harmed her friend. She, however, was too late and as she got there the invisible force suddenly had a black spike that was splattered in green shoved through it.

Blue ripples of energy flashed over the invisible force, revealing it to be another one of the humanoid creatures. In the back of her mind, Thera was still aware of the scent of a mate, but she had more important things to worry about, like the creature that had skewered the humanoid like it was a shish-kebab. She moved over to Lex, nuzzling her and making sure that she wasn’t harmed at all.

“I’m okay,” Lex said.

Thera continued to check, and only when she was satisfied that her friend wasn’t harmed, did she then move. It was then though, that a green goo suddenly splattered all over Lex. The creature that had Sebastian in its hold looked over at where its comrade had been killed, and it gave a growl that was similar in sound to what Thera made. Sebastian was then flung away from the creature and it began to lumber over to where the other creature had killed the comrade. As the two of them began to fight, Thera nudged Lex and led her over to where both Sebastian was, before Lex said to Sebastian that they needed to go and get Weyland and all three of them ran to where the man was sitting and watching the brawl. Once they’d got him onto his feet, the four of them ran out the nearest exit and up a flight of steps, under a bridge, up another flight of steps and on the third flight, Weyland said that he needed to stop.

Whilst Lex was calming Weyland down, Thera shifted into her human form and stretched herself out. As much as it was nice to run around in her feline form, it was also nice to be in her human form and the shifting from feline to human wasn’t as arduous as vice versa. Suddenly, she inhaled, and that scent assaulted her nose again, and she was off like a shot. She ignored the way Sebastian called for her but stopped just on the other side of the bridge so that her feet were visible to the Italian. She tilted her head as one of the humanoid creatures rounded the corner in front of her. Inhaling, her mind was suddenly filled with images of herself squirming in pleasure under this brute as he pounded into her, a low growl escaped her… _this_ was where the scent of mate was coming from? How strange.

-

**_(Scar POV)_ **

Scar was ready; in fact, he was _beyond_ ready to become a blooded warrior. He and his brothers were to go to Terra and take part in the _kiande_ _amedha_ _chiva_ to prove their strength to the clan and hopefully rejoin its ranks as fully blooded _sain’ja_. 

He had expected the _chiva_ to be hard, but he _hadn’t_ expected to lose _both_ of his brothers to _one_ _r’ka_. That just made him angry, but at the same time sad, as it proved that his brothers were weaker than he was. 

However, what made him angrier, was the fact that those _oomans_ had taken the _sivk’va-tai_. He watched as the three oomans tried to escape him, followed by a large, black feline, but when he followed them up the steps, he was surprised to see an ooman female standing there. Usually, oomans ran when they saw him, but this one just stood there and tilted her head.

Scar watched as the ooman inhaled and its face went blank, and then something even _more_ surprising happened; the ooman _growled_ and it wasn’t a normal ooman growl either _-those sounded nothing like this-_ , it was a feral and animalistic growl. Suddenly, the ooman started towards him, causing him to growl in warning and unsheathe his _dah’kte_. The ooman didn’t stop though, it just kept advancing until it was face to face _-well chest if we’re being honest-_ with him. If Scar was surprised by how this ooman was reacting before, imagine his surprise when the ooman started to sniff around him like a hunting hound, before it started to rub its mandible-less face on him. Tilting his head, he regarded the ooman with curiosity, before his hand shot out and caught the ooman by the throat. Even more curious, the ooman _hissed_ at him, like it was an _r’ka_. 

_‘This ooman is yeyin. Never have I seen an ooman that behaves more like a Yautja than its own species,’_ He thought. 

He’d never even _heard_ of an ooman behaving in this way. It was as interesting to observe as it was confusing. Eventually, Scar let the ooman drop from his grasp. As much as his brothers had seen the other oomans as worthy prey, this ooman wasn’t armed, therefore there would be no honour in killing it. 

_‘Her,’_ he corrected himself when he looked down at it and saw the milk sacs on its chest. _‘This ooman is female.’_

He watched as the ooman took a few deep breaths and coughed, before _she_ glared up at him and started growling again. Were circumstances different, he may have enjoyed hunting this ooman, but he was only here to take part in the _kiande amedha chiva_ , not to hunt oomans. 

Giving a bit of a confused growl, he shook his head and turned towards the bridge, making his way towards where he knew the other oomans were. As he got past the bridge, the strange female ooman ran past him, heading towards the two male oomans and the other female. At first, they appeared to be together, but when two of the oomans ran away leaving the other two, he figured that there wasn’t that much of a bond between them. Obviously those two humans had no honour, but the strange female did, as she stuck around to protect her weaker teammate, before he heard a distant voice.

“Thera!” 

_‘What in the name of Paya is a Thera?’_

The remaining female looked around and growled, before her head whipped back towards him. 

_‘ **Her** name is Thera. Interesting.’_

The growl sounded again, but it was cut short when the remaining male ooman, the one on the steps, touched her on the leg and said something. The strange female seemed to argue with him, but then she reluctantly followed the other oomans. Scar closed in on the sitting ooman, who went to strike him with some form of weapon, but he caught the ooman’s wrist and with a flick of his own wrist, the ooman dropped the weapon. Scar then wrapped his hand around the male ooman’s neck and lifted him with ease. There was something about this ooman, his scent was off, but that didn’t explain why the other oomans had left him. 

Flicking through the visual fields of his bio-mask, Scar found out what it was. This ooman was very ill. As honourable as it was for the strange ooman female to stay and attempt to protect her downed teammate, in the end any creature knew to leave the weak behind in an attempt to slow down predators like himself. It was something that was drilled into Yautja pups in the _kehrite_. 

Seeing that this ooman wasn’t worthy prey, Scar let him go and stepped around him, deciding to go after the ooman who had the _sivk’va-tai_ when he felt a blistering heat on his back. The pain on his _back_ he could handle, but the pain in his _tress_ , well _that_ was a different story. Swinging around, Scar roared at the ooman and unsheathed his _dah’kte_ , before sinking them into the _pyode amedha_ of the ooman. He watched as the ooman rolled down the steps, before walking off in search of the other three oomans.

-

**_(Normal POV)_ **

Thera hated the fact that she’d had to leave Weyland, but in a way she knew that he was buying her, Sebastian and Lex some time to escape. She’d just rounded the corner, when she noticed that the walls had started to reconfigure themselves. A running start had her all but diving over the quickly rising wall, only to be faced with another one, which Sebastian and Lex were climbing through. Knowing that she wasn’t going to be fast enough to get through that one too, Thera decided that she would need to hide, lest the humanoid creature who smelled like mate decided to come after them. Just as she got into her hiding spot, a bladed disk came flying through the air and just managed to go through the rapidly closing gap, probably barely missing Sebastian.

The shifter watched as mate _-she decided to just call him that instead of **humanoid** -_ moved to the middle of the room and tilted his head. Her eyes trailed over his form as he stood there, before his head snapped up and he flung another bladed disk at a creature with long legs and a tail that was flying towards him. The bladed disk cut the strange creature in half, and then came back to its owner but, said owner didn’t sheathe it again. Instead, Thera saw one of those serpentine creatures crawl down next to mate, but just as she was about to call out to warn him, he swiped with his bladed disk. He turned his face away, and Thera just watched as the front half of the serpent’s head fell away from the back half. 

Thera’s eyes widened; the fact that he knew that the serpentine creature was there suggested superior senses, coupled with his strength, it was no wonder her shifter side saw him as a mate. He was a perfect specimen. Her reverie was broken when she heard a hissing sound. Looking up, she saw that he was taking his mask off, and when it was off Thera’s mouth hung open. Even with the mandibles that seemed to flare autonomously, he was…well he wasn’t _handsome_ , but he wasn’t _ugly_ either. Now that she could put a face to the scent, her hormones spiked, and she felt herself getting hot under the proverbial collar. 

As he knelt beside the creature he’d cut in half with his bladed disk, _-or was it a shuriken?-_ Thera watched as he broke off one of the limbs and brought it to his mask. It was clear what he was doing, Shifters had a similar ritual and she had the signs of her own rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood on her body. Once he’d finished with the mask, she watched as he did the same to his forehead, flinching only the tiniest amount. Suddenly, Thera saw movement above his head and, seeing that it was a creature that was identical to the one mate had decapitated, she growled and broke cover.

-

**_(Scar POV)_ **

He’d done it; he was finally a _Sain’ja_ and he now had the mark of his clan to prove it. He’d just dropped the limb that he’d used to etch the mark onto his head and mask, when he heard a growl. Looking up, he saw the strange female ooman running towards him. Giving a growl himself, he stood and wielded his _ki’cti-pa_ , getting ready to defend himself. However, when the ooman female moved around him, he faltered and tilted his head. 

Hearing a struggle behind him, he turned to see the ooman female fighting with a facehugger. He hadn’t even known that it was there! Grabbing his ceremonial blade, he stepped over to the ooman and quickly sunk the blade into the flesh of the facehugger, sliding it upwards and splitting the creature in two. He watched as the ooman let the now dead creature fall to the floor, shook her head, panted and then looked up at him. 

“Thanks,” she said.

His eyes met hers, and he gave a slight nod which she returned. Then she stepped towards him, completely unfazed by his features. In fact, it seemed that she was more interested in studying him. He watched as she raised a hand to his face, but before it could make contact, he caught it and growled. Her eyes found his again, and slowly she began to lower the appendage. 

There was a strange musk in the air, if he were honest it smelt almost like a female in heat, and he found himself responding in ways he never had before. Tilting his head, he was surprised to feel a purr building in his chest, but suddenly, the pyramid started to reconfigure, and he shook his head to clear the musk induced thoughts. He knew that he needed to find the other ooman female, the one who had the _sivk’va-tai_ and get away from this strange female, as he was certain that she was the cause of his brief lapse in control. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _ooman_ \- Human  
>  _Sain'ja_ \- Warrior  
>  _Kiande Amedha Chiva_ \- Hard Meat Trial  
>  _Kiande Amedha_ \- Hard Meat (Xenomorph)  
>  _r'ka_ \- Xenomorph  
>  _Yeyin_ \- Brave  
>  _Sivk'va-tai_ \- Plasmacaster  
>  _dah'kte_ \- Wristblades  
>  _ki'cti-pa_ \- Combistick  
>  _Yautja_ \- Predator Species  
>  _Paya_ \- God/Warrior  
>  _Pyode Amedha_ \- Soft Meat (Humans)  
>  _Kehrite_ \- Dojo/Training Room
> 
>  
> 
> _All Translations Courtesy of https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/Yautja_language_
> 
> _**Next Chapter Due:** Friday 10th May_


	4. Chapter 4

__**(Three Years Ago)** _ _

**Lex was sat on the porch of her little cabin in the woods when she heard it; the shot of a gun. The sound so loud, it scared the birds out of the trees and sent the rabbits scurrying for their bolt holes. She’d never really encouraged the use of guns in her day-to-day work, as it was always better to use a flare gun. It did the job of scaring away Polar Bears and the like, without actually harming the animals, which was why she almost always carried one on her expeditions.**

**Normally; she wasn’t afraid to head into the unknown, but this time, with the hunters potentially still with their kill, she wasn’t going to chance going into the woods. There was, however, a little voice nagging in the back of her mind, telling her that it wasn’t hunting season yet, so whoever had fired that gun, was poaching. Still, it wasn’t until dusk that she decided to go and see what the hunters had done, and that’s when she found her.**

**A small baby, laying between the spread arms of a dead woman, who _-from the way she was dressed-_ wasn’t native to the area. A gasp escaped the dark-skinned guide, and she looked around for any sign of the father, finding nothing. Lex didn’t know what to do, night was coming and this child would perish if left to the elements, so she did the only thing she could do, she picked the baby up and began to make her way towards her cabin.**

-

_**(Present Day)** _

Lex had no problem with admitting that she was scared; anyone in their right mind would be in her current situation. She and Sebastian had spoken in that little room and had decided that this pyramid was a prison _-of sorts_ -, the serpentine creatures were the prisoners _-of sorts-_ and the humanoid creatures were the guards - _of sorts-_. It had taken a bit of explaining but eventually Sebastian had agreed that the enemy of their enemy was in fact their friend, and that they _needed_ to give the _guard_ back his weapon.

Now though, Lex was beginning to think that their idea of finding the humanoid creature that Thera had saved was a poorly conceived one. After having left that room, the two of them had been chased by those serpentine creatures and forced to jump a chasm which Lex probably would’ve fallen into if it weren’t for Sebastian. Well, _partly,_ because before he’d had the chance to pull her fully onto the other side, one of those _serpents_ had come and had taken him. She didn’t know how much time had passed since that had happened, and really, she was trying not to dwell on the fact that it was possible that Sebastian was now dead or going to die.

It wasn’t long until she came to a dead-end, and one glance at her wrist showed a broken compass screen. She no longer had any idea where she was going and didn’t know where she’d been either. Suddenly, a series of rapid clicks alerted her to the fact that she wasn’t alone in this little cul-de-sac, and she knew that this was probably the end for her. When she turned around, she saw the humanoid creature standing there, with a spear in his clawed hand. Tears gathered in her eyes as she watched the creature’s spear extend, and she readied herself to beg for her life. However, she was shocked when she saw Thera spring out and stand in front of the creature with her hands out.

“Wait! Wait! She has something that belongs to you!” Thera cried.

The creature seemed to stop, and Lex took her opportunity. Muttering to herself that the enemy of her enemy was her friend, she removed her backpack and slid it over towards the creature. He seemed to look down at it, before there was a hissing sound behind him. As the serpentine creature pounced on her mate, Thera growled and moved herself into a position so that she could help him out. When she was in position, she threw herself bodily into the serpent, knocking it off mate and onto the floor. When it turned its elongated head towards her and hissed, she crouched a little and hissed back at it, ready to pounce again. The serpent however, had other ideas.

Its long head swept towards Lex, and before Thera could do anything it had pounced towards the human. Thankfully though, the humanoid’s spear had landed next to her, so she grabbed it and the serpent impaled itself onto the spear. Thera watched as the serpent tried still to get to Lex, but only ended up pushing the spear deeper into its flesh. It soon went limp, but as Lex tried to get it away from herself, the creature’s inner mouth-tongue thing shot out, barely missing Lex’s head. The next time it went still, Thera knew that it was dead and so apparently, did Lex as she moved the spear and pretty much tossed the now dead serpent onto the floor.

Thera then took her opportunity, she rushed to Lex’s side and enveloped her in a bear hug.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

Lex looked at her and nodded numbly. When her eyes focussed on the Shifter in front of her, she saw that the female was looking around and guessed that she was looking for Sebastian.

“He was taken,” she said.

Thera’s face as she glanced back at her friend was like thunder. Those serpents had not only attacked her best friend _and_ her mate, but they had kidnapped her _friend’s mate_ too? Oh, they had hell to pay when she got her hands on them. Suddenly, three red dots appeared on Lex’s chest and moved up to her head. Thera’s head whipped towards mate and she gave a little growl, ready to jump in and defend her friend from him. However, more serpentine creatures took his attention, and she watched with rapture as he easily killed multiple serpents with the weapon on his shoulder. She was so interested in watching him, that she didn’t notice that Lex was watching _her_ until she _felt_ eyes on her. Turning towards her friend, she raised an eyebrow.

“What?” She asked.

Lex shook her head, before she motioned to mate.

“What is it with him, why’re you so fascinated by him?” She questioned.

Thera had the decency to once again look sheepish, before she plopped down on her backside and sighed.

“He’s uh…” She began

Lex had an expectant expression upon her face when Thera looked at her, and she sighed.

“He’s where the scent of cookies is coming from,” she finished.

Had it been anything other than the truth, Thera probably would’ve laughed at the face that Lex made, but seeing as she was deathly serious, she thought that it would probably be a bad idea.

“ _He_ is your mate?” She asked.

Thera nodded and looked back over at him, while Lex struggled to comprehend the information she’d just been given.

“ _How_ can he be your mate Thera? He’s ugly as fuck,” she hissed.

At hearing this, Thera turned on her friend with a growl. Lex tried to back into the wall, and when Thera saw this, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

“Animals have no comprehension of whether a mate is handsome -slash- beautiful or not, the scent and the ability to produce strong offspring is what they look for,” she said.

Just then, there was a high-pitched scream that obviously neither Lex nor mate had heard, and she watched coldly as the remaining serpents disappeared into the cracks and crevices of the pyramid, and her eyes softened when mate turned around and stumbled a little. Her eyes followed him as he walked over to the serpent that Lex had killed and retrieved his spear, before sheathing it. As he began to walk off, Lex got up and moved after him.

“Hey, we’re coming with you, do you hear me you ugly creatu—”

She never got to finish her sentence, as mate turned on her with a growl. He stalked towards her, backing her into the wall, before stopping. He then looked at her, then looked at the dead serpent at his feet, before looking back at her.

-

_**(Scar POV)** _

This _ooman_ had slain a _kiande amedha_ on her own! His brothers had thought that oomans were only good as hosts for the serpents, that they were no use as warriors. These two oomans however, had proved them wrong. Not only did the strange one smell intriguing, but the way the darker skinned ooman had stood up to him, told him that she and her companion were _coming with him_ , she had _certainly_ earned his respect.

He figured that the strange ooman could protect herself, she _had_ after all thrown herself against an _r’ka_ to give him a chance to recuperate after the surprise attack. The other ooman though, she would fall prey to an _r’ka_ within seconds. Using his ceremonial blade, he quickly removed the chitinous helm of the serpent, before he decided to have a bit of fun with the ooman.

“What’re you doing?” The ooman asked.

Scar looked up at her and suddenly sunk his ceremonial blade into the brain of the serpent, causing its inner mouth to spring out and spook the ooman. At the sight of her jumping he began to laugh, which to her probably sounded like a series of clicks. He looked over at the strange ooman, the one named _Thera,_ and was surprised to see that she was trying not to laugh. Calming down a little, Scar broke off one of the fingers of the _r’ka_ , held it above the chitinous helm and squeezed, watching the dark skinned ooman, before he moved the dripping phalange to the ground letting the acidic blood melt the stone.

-

_**(Normal POV)** _

As soon as Lex saw what the humanoid creature had done, she immediately got the gist of what he was offering and gave a slight nod. Instantly, the humanoid creature once again unsheathed his dagger and chopped off the end of the tail of the serpent, he then went to work tying it onto a stick for her to use as a weapon. Once everything was done, he and Lex nodded to one another and the three of them took off running down the halls.

-

Before long, the trio came to a crossroads of halls and as the humanoid creature crouched down to look at some goop on the floor, both Lex and Thera moved forwards into a room. Upon seeing the camera that Miller had been toying with on the helicopter, Lex called out to him only to receive no response. She then put her homemade spear on the ground and picked up a handgun that was covered in slime. Suddenly, there was the sound of raspy breathing. Both Thera and Lex moved towards where the noise was coming from and the latter gasped when she saw Sebastian covered in slimy muck, suspended from a wall.

Thera looked him over, not seeing any sign of injury or anything, but judging from the slime on his face he’d been caught by one of those creatures that she’d saved her mate from. That meant that he was probably going to die, and _soon_. She’d heard stories about Alpha Shifters _-like her-_ being able to save humans with their venom. It wasn’t guaranteed, but upon seeing the look on Lex’s face as she stopped mate from killing Sebastian on sight, Thera decided that she would at least _try_ to save him. So, as Lex lifted the gun to put the Italian out of his misery, Thera stepped in front of her.

“I think I can save him,” she said.

At hearing this, Lex wiped her eyes and smiled at her friend. She appreciated the thought, but she knew that there was nothing that could be done. Ignoring Sebastian’s requests for Lex to kill him, Thera hurried to where Lex had put the spear down, before coming back and cutting Sebastian down. Once he was on the floor, she looked up to Lex.

“I need you to come and talk to him,” she stated.

When Thera had said that she could save Sebastian, Lex had thought that the Shifter was only saying that to make her feel better, but the look on her face suggested that she was serious. Dubiously, Lex moved from where she was in front of the humanoid creature, to take a spot next to Sebastian’s prone figure. Thera then held her hand out to her friend, causing Lex to give her a confused look.

“Your blade Lex, I need it,” she said.

As if she was waking from a daydream, Lex reached into the lower pocket of her pants and pulled out a sheathed knife. Thera took it from her and put it on the floor, before she grabbed the lapels of Sebastian’s shirt and ripped it open. She then picked the knife back up and unclipped the fastening of the sheath, before she pulled the knife out and palpated the skin above where Sebastian’s diaphragm was. Once she was sure about where to make the incision, she lowered the knife to the skin and looked up at the pained face of her friend’s mate.

“This is gonna hurt,” she stated.

She didn’t give Sebastian time to answer as she began to cut into the flesh. Lex saw that the humanoid was watching with rapt fascination, tilting his head to the side and moving closer to kneel next to Thera. Sebastian screamed when the Shifter cut into him, and Lex felt tears flow down her face at seeing the guy she liked in pain. She didn’t watch as Thera slipped her hand into the incision she’d made, and certainly didn’t watch when she pulled something out of the Italian and handed it to the humanoid creature.

“You have a syringe in your med-kit don’t you Lex?” She asked.

Lex nodded and looked around for her backpack, but when she remembered what she did with it, she gave Thera a sheepish look.

“Well, I _did_ have. But my med-kit is in my backpack, and I gave that to our friend there,” she replied.

Thera looked between her and mate, before a sigh escaped her, and she simply nodded. Then, using the hand that was covered in Sebastian’s blood, she lifted her shirt and began to press at a spot on her abdomen. Her other hand came up to her mouth, and she cupped it under her chin as a golden liquid started to flow from her lips. When the fluid stopped flowing, Thera wiped her mouth and chin and looked over at her friend.

“I need you to hold him down,” she said.

Lex quickly did as her friend had said, before she flinched at the sound of Sebastian screaming loudly. Before long however, Sebastian passed out from the pain and probably from lack of oxygen too, but this gave Thera the chance to start slowly moving her hand over the wound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Kiande Amedha_ \- Hard Meat (Xenomorph)  
>  _R’ka_ \- Xenomorph
> 
>  
> 
> _**Next Chapter Due:** Friday 17th May_


	5. Chapter 5

If there was one thing that Thera Regina was not, it was a medic; sure, she was no stranger to the cuts and scrapes that Lex often acquired on the ice, but to offer to save someone? That was way out of her comfort zone, not to mention she thought it was out of her range of abilities too. So, for the life of her she couldn’t understand what had prompted her to claim that she could save Sebastian from a fate that was probably worse than the death Lex would’ve given him. Okay, tell a lie, she knew exactly what had prompted her to do such a thing, it was the crushed look on Lex’s face as she was about to shoot the Italian in the head.

Once the pressure was on her however, she had to at least pretend to know what she was doing and she was pleasantly surprised when her idea to use her venom had paid off, and the look of gratefulness and relief that Lex had on her face was pretty much worth it. During the time that she was sliding the blade into Sebastian’s flesh, she didn’t think about how mate would react to her _-newfound-_ ability to heal, she just had one thought at that time…

_‘Lex’s mate is going to die if I don’t do something.’_

She’d put herself in Lex’s situation, if mate was dying from a serpentine spawn, she would want someone to help save him. When Sebastian took that first big gulp of air after waking, Thera stood and decided to give the duo some privacy. She didn’t even _think_ about where mate was, or what he thought about what she’d done, she was, in fact, more interested in trying to get the blood off her hands. If she’d thought about it, she could’ve used some of the water that was dripping from the ceiling of the pyramid, but at that moment her mind was occupied by thoughts of whether her venom would have adverse effects on the Italian.

In fact, she was so consumed by these thoughts, that she didn’t notice mate come up behind her until she heard the clicking of what she guessed was his language. Turning towards him, Thera felt herself heating up at how close he was, before she tilted her head in the way that he often did, before sighing.

“I wish I could understand you,” she muttered.

Again, he made that clicking sound and tilted his head in the same way as her, before his gaze moved behind her. When he stiffened, Thera frowned and looked behind, and what she saw there made her freeze too.

“Holy _fuck._ That’s a _shit_ load of eggs,” she said.

Mate once again made that clicking sound and as he started to fiddle with the device on his wrist, Thera moved over to where Lex was helping Sebastian to stand.

“Guys, we need to get out of here,” she whispered.

When she turned back towards Mate, he was looking at them. His eyes connected with hers as he pointed to his wrist device, closed his fist and then splayed his fingers as if imitating…

“It’s a bomb,” Lex said.

Thera glanced at her, before her gaze travelled back to mate and she nodded.

“Good. I hope it kills every fuckin’ one of ‘em,” she growled.

Mate removed the device from his wrist and threw it into the plethora of eggs and instantly the four of them began to run through the pyramid, following mate through the various twists and turns of the building.

-

Once they reached the ice tunnel, Thera kept an eye out for any of those serpents as Lex began to type in a code to take the resource cart back to the surface. However, it seemed that the serpents had already found the tunnel, because one of them dropped down on mate. At first, Thera wasn’t going to do anything as it was clear that mate could take care of himself, but as soon as the tail of the serpent pierced mate’s shoulder, she saw red.

It took less time for her to shift in that moment, than it did when she’d first shifted in front of Weyland and when she was done, she pounced on the serpent, ripping the tail out of mate’s shoulder and biting it everywhere she could. She didn’t care whether mate now knew what she was, she knew that he would’ve found out in the end anyway, all she knew was that this creature had hurt her mate, and it needed to pay for that.

Her teeth slid off the hard carapace of the serpent’s head, but when her teeth found its neck, they sank right in. Acidic blood spurted into her mouth burning it, but she didn’t care about that. Instead, she began to shake her head so that her teeth moved deeper and deeper into the flesh until she came away with the serpent’s version of a larynx in her jaws. The serpent flailed around in pain, obviously unable to breathe and when it finally went still, it was in front of several more serpents.

_“Oh shit. Lex! Get that thing moving!”_

Lex finally managed to punch the code into the cart and then she jumped onto it along with the other three. Thera however, still in her feline form, had trouble holding on and when her claws slipped, she thought that she was going to fall. However, a reptilian hand shot out and caught her paw, causing her to look up at mate and send a mental thanks to him. She didn’t, however, have time to dwell on how good mate’s hand felt on her paw as the wrist device he’d set to self-destruct did just that and the explosion started up the tunnel.

When she thought about it later, Thera really shouldn’t have expected the cart to simply land softly on the surface, especially not when there was a mushroom of fire chasing them. As the cart flew out of the tunnel, all four of the passengers were thrown into the ice, causing Thera to land heavily on one of her shoulders and let out a yowl of pain. Soon though, they were all up and running again, with the Shifter ignoring the searing pain radiating from her shoulder as she tried to outrun the rapidly collapsing ground.

After what felt like forever _-especially for Thera, who was still in pain-_ , the four of them made it to stable and solid ground. Thera shifted back into her human form and grunted with pain as it was now clear that she had dislocated her shoulder. She however, ignored it in favour of watching the rest of the ice shelf collapse on the pyramid, hopefully entombing the serpents.

“Fuckin’ acidic bastards,” she muttered.

This caused Sebastian to chuckle a little and then he stepped away from Lex and moved closer to her. Thera looked up at him, wincing a little as her shoulder chose that time to give a throb.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

The Shifter nodded and composed herself. She’d never been someone who voiced any ailments, preferring instead to sort herself out if she was hurt in any way.

“I’m fine,” she replied.

Sebastian nodded and then stepped into her personal space, before he wrapped his arms around her, causing her to freeze and grunt quietly.

“Thank you, Thera, for saving me,” he said.

Thera stiffly nodded, and when Sebastian let her go, she sighed in relief as the pressure was lifted off her shoulder. As the Italian archaeologist made his way back to Lex, Thera moved in the opposite direction to try and sort out her shoulder. It took a few minutes, but eventually the Shifter managed to get her shoulder back into its socket with a quiet pop. Rolling her shoulder, she meandered back to the three who were standing on the edge of the stable ground just in time to see mate offer to give Lex the same mark that he had on his forehead.

Sebastian watched as Lex withstood the pain of the alien’s blood on her cheek and pulled her into a hug as soon as the mark was done. He watched as the humanoid then turned to Thera and offered her the same mark. A frown appeared on his face when he saw exactly how excited the Shifter was to have the humanoid give her the mark, and he turned his curious gaze on Lex.

“What’s up with her?” He asked.

Lex looked over at where Thera was now accepting the mark and chuckled at the big grin on her face. She then turned back to Sebastian and rested her head against his chest.

“You remember when you came up to Thera and me on the ship?” She questioned.

Sebastian nodded and Lex smiled a little.

“Well, she was telling me how Shifters find their mates. Turns out, they find their mates by scent and tall, dark and weird over there…” she began.

She laughed a little at the growl that came from Thera, knowing that it wasn’t one of pain. Turning her head towards where the Shifter was now stood with her arms crossed over her chest, Lex poked her tongue out a little, before turning back to Sebastian.

“…has the scent of mate,” she finished.

Sebastian’s eyes widened and his eyes flicked between Thera and the humanoid, before he looked back at Lex.

“ _He_ is her mate?” He cried.

Lex shushed him, but it was too late. The humanoid had heard what had been said, in fact he’d heard _everything_.

-

**_(Scar POV)_ **

_Tall, dark and weird over there has the scent of **mate**_

So, the strange female was a Shifter and she saw him as a mate? _Now_ her behaviour upon first seeing him made sense; from what he’d read, Shifter culture wasn’t unlike that of the Yautja, with only a few minor differences. One, Shifters found their mates by scent _unlike_ Yautja, and depending on whether another male challenged for the right to mate with the females, the male with the strongest scent would sire offspring. Two, Shifters had a complicated courtship ritual that, _-according to the material he’d read-_ was truly a sight to behold. Yautja didn’t have much in the way of courtship rituals, in fact the only ritual was in the male showing the female his trophy collection and if she liked what she saw, she would mate him, if not then she would find someone else. This Shifter though, why of all species would he have the scent of mate, and why did _her_ scent affect him as if she were a female Yautja in heat?

His eyes skimmed her body, taking in the ripped clothing, the burns on her face from where she’d ripped the throat out of the _r’ka_ , the way she held herself with such confidence. Her strength alone was desirable to any male, especially to a species like his, that favoured strength and honour over everything else. However, he didn’t have time to think more on that, as a shrill scream erupted from the collapsed ice and he turned in time to see the queen _r’ka_ erupt from the debris.

Surprised that the large beast had been able to survive such a catastrophic collapse, Scar pulled out his shuriken and threw it at the creature, watching as it sliced her on the side and came back. Catching it, he threw it again and watched as it sliced the queen on her chest and once again came back. As he went to catch it this time though, the tail of the beast knocked him flying, winding him momentarily. Suddenly, he heard a growling next to him, and when he turned his head towards the noise, he saw the large feline crouched down, ready to pounce.

-

**_(Normal POV)_ **

If Lex had thought that the serpents were big and scary, then the serpent _queen_ was a different kettle of fish altogether. She was absolutely _huge_ , which was why, when Thera was about to pounce on the long tail of the queen, Lex decided that she _had_ to do _something_ to stop her friend from being killed. In hindsight, impaling the large creature with the spear the humanoid had made her, _probably_ wasn’t the _best_ idea, but given that she couldn’t do anything else, it had seemed like the _only_ idea.

The only problem? Now the beast was after _her_ , so she did the only thing she could think of—she _ran_. The sound of the creature’s footfalls on the ice was enough for her to imagine what the smaller animals in Thera’s favoured TV series _Walking with Dinosaurs_ felt whenever one of the giant reptiles were around. Quite frankly, it was scary. Thankfully, she managed to hide under the water tower that had once provided the whaling station with clean water, and the queen was so big that she couldn’t fit under it. Her mouth-tongue and her claws, however, could and if it wasn’t for the humanoid shoving his spear into the head of the queen, Lex was sure that she would’ve been made a host.

With the queen suitably distracted, Lex escaped from under the water tower and found the chain that had been used to keep the beast locked up. Looking between the chain and the water tower, an idea suddenly struck the ice guide and she grabbed the former, before attempting to wrap it around the latter. The queen, however, was too strong for her to pull alone, which was why she was glad when both Sebastian and the humanoid came to help her.

“Got it!” She called.

However, the water tower stopped falling and suddenly her idea didn’t seem so bright. When she saw the frozen shovel though, another idea came to her, but as she went to get it the sound of a pained yowl reached her ears. Turning, she was shocked to see that Thera had a huge gash in her side that was bleeding quite badly. As she was about to rush over and help her friend, Sebastian called her name and held his hand out for the shovel.

Quickly, Lex tossed the shovel to the Italian and ran over to put pressure on Thera’s wound. She didn’t care what the humanoid was doing, or what Sebastian was doing, all she cared about was trying to keep Thera alive.

“Don’t you dare go dying on me Thera, not after this!” She hissed.

A strained and choked laugh filled her mind and she looked down at the panther to see the eyes glinting in pained humour. Lex looked down at the wound and saw that it was still bleeding pretty badly, meaning that Thera’s own healing mechanism hadn’t kicked in yet, which was worrying. Was the wound too deep? Was it too cold? Were there other factors that were stopping the healing process? Her mind was spinning so badly, that she didn’t even realise that the serpent queen had been sent over the edge of the cliff until Sebastian came to kneel next to her.

“You’re gonna be alright Thera. You’re gonna be okay,” she said.

Suddenly, there was the sound of clicking and growling and both the humans looked up to see the humanoid conversing with another older humanoid, who took one look at Thera and barked a command at the other humanoids that were with him. Instantly, two of the other humanoids moved over to where the humans and Thera were, and Sebastian quickly pulled Lex back as the duo crouched down and collected the Shifter with what looked to be a military gurney. The elder humanoid then turned to Lex and held out a spear, which he retracted. He waited, and eventually Lex figured out what he was trying to do. She held out her hands and took the spear from him, before watching as he and the other humanoid disappeared into their ship, taking Thera with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bookmarks are _Nice_ , Kudos are **Love** and Comments are _**LIFE**_
> 
> _**Next Chapter Due:** Friday 24th May_


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